In the electronics industry, it is common to mount several similar function integrated circuit devices onto a common circuit board to form what is known in the industry as a multi-component module. For example, multiple semiconductor integrated circuit memory devices or components are mounted to a common circuit board to form a memory module. The memory module is connected to a main circuit board to interact with other components in a system, e.g., in a computer system. The components on the memory module are read and written to in cooperation with each other. A controller controls access to the components on the module.
In the past, components on the module circuit board would be laid out to compensate for the time delay of signals to and from the components. However, as semiconductor fabrication technologies and circuit designs have advanced, the components have become so fast that it is not necessary to account for signal propagation delays order to synchronize signals to and from the components. As an example, next generation memory modules made according to the DDR3 (and later) standard use what is known as “fly by” connections for inputs of control signals to the components on the module. Fly-by connections are laid out such that connections made between the controller and the components take the shortest path possible, and the controller supplies control signals with each component sequentially. However, each component has dedicated outputs that are connected in parallel to the controller. The control signals will arrive at components that are closer to the controller earlier than at components that are further down the line. Consequently, each component will react to the control signal from the controller at a slightly different (later) time and therefore react to the control slightly later such that the outputs from the components will not be time aligned. This misalignment of the output from the components makes processing of the data at the controller complicated and also makes design of tester devices for testing the multi-component modules more complex.